Fr. Bob Binta

Ugandan priest: Love of justice, fire of faith

By Joyce Coronel | Oct. 15, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Fr. Bob Binta is half a world away from his homeland of Uganda but has managed to bring the fire of that country’s martyrs to the north Phoenix parish of St. Paul.

Next June, he will accompany 40 parishioners as well as the pastor and former pastor of St. Paul on a trip to the African nation. The group will be on hand for a June 3, large-scale Mass to commemorate the lives of St. Charles Lwanga and companions.

Fr. Binta said it won’t be the first time he’s taken visitors to his native country. “It changes people’s lives,” he said. Uganda is beset by crushing poverty — a misery he tells St. Paul’s parishioners is hard to imagine unless it is witnessed firsthand.

“I tell people how fortunate they are here and to be content with what they have — the things they take for granted, like clean water and electricity,” he said.

That includes clothes. When people criticize Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s practice of dressing prisoners in striped uniforms, Fr. Binta is quick to point out that the incarcerated in Uganda are lucky to have any clothes at all.

Flashing a dazzling smile, he shares his memories of growing up as one of 12 children in a family where praying the rosary was a daily affair. As a young teenager, he felt drawn to the priesthood, having been inspired by the heroic faith of the 22 Catholic martyrs of Uganda, many of them young boys who were burned alive for refusing to renounce Christ.

“My father was a medical doctor and my mother was a nurse,” he recounts, explaining that his parents, both since deceased, were well respected in their village. “All of my siblings went to college.”

Fr. Binta attended a seminary high school and then earned degrees in philosophy and sacred theology. He was ordained a priest in 1991 and served his first assignment teaching at St. Mary’s High School Seminary where he had studied as a young man.

His home diocese sent him to the University of Notre Dame where he obtained a master’s degree in business administration. He returned to Uganda in 1996 and served as the financial administrator for the diocese.

Four years later, he was appointed to be the financial administrator of the Uganda Bishops’ Conference.

Fr. Binta was also appointed as the first-ever chaplain to the Catholic Parliamentarians, giving him an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the big wigs in government. He became a spiritual director to many, including the vice president of Uganda.

Two years ago, he requested to be sent to the Diocese of Phoenix. “I wanted to be in a parish and exercise my priestly ministry,” he said.

Although he misses his homeland dearly, Fr. Binta has quickly adapted to life in the United States, and confesses a love for pizza, cheesecake and, naturally, Notre Dame sports teams.

He sometimes gathers with the five other priests in the Valley who are also natives of Uganda. “We have 47 tribes in Uganda,” he said, explaining that each tribe has its own dialect, unintelligible to the others. When the group gathers, they speak English, the official language of the African nation.

Africa, he explains, is plagued by tribalism, rampant corruption and a grinding poverty. About 46 percent of Uganda’s people are Catholic, and their faith, perhaps because of the difficult conditions in which they live, is precious, something that is perhaps lost on a society enmeshed in materialism.

“Back home, religion is a way of life. When it comes to celebrating the liturgy, people dance, they sing, but here liturgy is restricted to an hour. If you go over, people say, ‘You delayed us. Back home it’s two hours often… but there, if you preach for 10 minutes they say, ‘Father never prepared.’”

What are you passionate about as a priest?

For me it is social justice issues. First of all, I grew up in a country that is extremely poor, where 60 percent live below the poverty line. I grew up with the poor in our midst. For me, social justice, especially the option for the poor, is very strong — helping the less privileged.

Did someone invite you to consider the priesthood?

The Holy Cross priests from Indiana were running parishes [in Uganda]. I felt touched by their commitment and dedication to serving the poorest of the poor and they inspired me to join the seminary.

What can families do to encourage more vocations to the priesthood?

I normally tell families to encourage their children to pray. They can begin with a simple prayer before a meal, and encourage children to pray when they wake up and when they go to sleep. They can bring them to church every Sunday and encourage them to be active in parish life, to join the youth group. Talk to them about joining the priesthood. In this society, it’s viewed negatively but parents can encourage their kids.